July 9, 2006

G86: White Sox 6, Red Sox 5 (19)

Bos - 100 200 000 020 000 000 0 - 5 11 0
Chi - 000 101 001 020 000 000 1 - 6 18 0
Damn.

Props to Julian Tavarez for an amazing pitching performance (4-1-0-1-2, 49), shutting down the White Sox in the 13th-16th innings. That's more unlikely than Harvey Haddix's 12 perfect innings back in 1959.

After that, asking for three shutout innings from Rudy Seanez, who hadn't pitched since June 30, was too much. He gave us 2.1 -- which is about 2.1 more than I expected -- but then four straight singles ended the 6:19 marathon.

Boo: Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon went a combined 0-for-17. But none of the other batters did much for the last 15 innings (except for Loretta in the 11th), either.

Time for a rest.

***

Curt Schilling (3.63) / Jose Contreras (3.31), 2 PM

While Contreras has had 17 consecutive winning decisions and is 9-0 this season, his lifetime ERA against Boston is 11.67. But Schilling notes: "He's not even remotely what he was in New York. I think a lot of that is confidence, the way he pitches, his mound presence is better and it's showing."

From The Press Notes:

David Ortiz is the second Red Sox player to hit 8 HR over 8 consecutive games (George Scott (the one and only Boomer to wear red socks), June 14-22, 1977). Flo is on pace for 59 HR and 164 RBI. Since last year's All-Star break, Ortiz has hit 57 HR and driven in 159 runs, both tops in MLB.

The last time the Sox faced a pitcher with a 9-0 record? June 27, 1978, Ron Guidry, Yankees. New York won 6-4 in 14 innings (Guidry got a ND). ... The last time the Sox pinned a loss on a pitcher with a 9-0 record? July 9, 1960 (exactly 47 years ago today), Jim Coates, Yankees. Boston won 6-5.

Rudy Seanez has not pitched since June 30 (yay!). Among Red Sox relievers he has the lowest percentage of first batters retired (14-of-30, 47%). Jonathan Papelbon is at 79% (31-of-39), Mike Timlin is at 76% (25-of-33), and Craig Hansen is 100% (10-for-10).

Schilling makes his 400th career start today.

8 comments:

Peter N said...

Nice stuff yesterday...and a celebrtion was in order. And today? A maybe sweep. Curt and Curt only. And thanks for the link. Woww!

Peter N said...

I knew...I just love to see it in print. Contreras...maybe his first hint of the 'D' word, and that stands for defeat. Go Curt.

Jere said...

JoyNation was waiting for it: Curt gives one right back.

Earl said...

Shoot, now Hansen's 10-for-11 with retiring the first batter faced...

Earl said...

...but who cares when he gets the next three guys out...

allan said...

We all know that the Ken Harrelson and Whoever Is With Him (Somebody Jackson, I think) are the absolute worst announcers on the planet. They make Joe Morgan and Chris Berman sound like Vin Scully in his prime.

Some comments from the game from the SoSH Game Thread:

SouthernBoSox: "They won't even say "Strike 3" or "A swing and a miss". They just don't say anything when the opposing team does something good."

cheekydave: "for those of you lucky enough to not have the hawk on
1st inning: schilling just struck out iguchi ...
silence.
total silence.
then count 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ...
and on to the next batter --
guess we don't get a He Gone for a schilling strike out.

2nd inning
3 and 1 count
pitch to crisp (ball 4) ... silence ...............
still silent ...........
(next batter)
here's alex gonzalez the shortstop."

***

At one point they started talking about how the Red Sox were inspired to try Papelbon at closer because of what the White Sox did last year with Bobby Jenks.

glennhoffmania got it right: "I've now listened to Hawk and DJ for 5 straight hours. There is no doubt that my IQ has dropped at least 8-10 points."

Seth Mnookin has more.

thatdietcokegirl said...

timlin is just a cooked little turkey. he comes in and loades the bases with no outs. that was the game right there. we led 5-3 and he gave up the ol perfect two runs to make the game go 19 innings and make Fatty-MC in the crowd fall asleep.

Anonymous said...

On the cusp of the All-Star Break, the last two days in CHI gave us the rarity of seeing starting pitchers come out of the bullpen in an effort to win games (the others being elimination games in DS, LS, WS).

Unfortunately, it was CHI that was able to dip deeper into their 'pen than the Sox. Of all the arms remaining after Tavarez, Seanez was the end of the line (though Gordon Edes notes in today's Globe that Jason Johnson was conspicuously unavailable and may be gone after the ASB).

Though Pap showed he was human after all (and Timlin alarmingly so for the second time in less than a week), Tavarez did very much exceed expectations with four strong. In the end, Seanez showed some grit, moreso than expected, and may have earned himself a brief reprieve from the waiver/trade wire.